Lead Story
2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine honors the light-switch discovery that let scientists control brain cells
Karl Deisseroth of Stanford, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg jointly won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced Oct. 5, for discovering light-gated ion channels and turning them into optogenetics — a technique that lets researchers switch individual neurons on and off with pulses of light. The tool has become a cornerstone of modern neuroscience, letting scientists trace which specific brain circuits control behaviors, memory and disease, and the trio share the prize's 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).
Read more →Lead Story
2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine honors the light-switch discovery that let scientists control brain cells
Karl Deisseroth of Stanford, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg jointly won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced Oct. 5, for discovering light-gated ion channels and turning them into optogenetics — a technique that lets researchers switch individual neurons on and off with pulses of light. The tool has become a cornerstone of modern neuroscience, letting scientists trace which specific brain circuits control behaviors, memory and disease, and the trio share the prize's 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).
World's first commercial-scale enhanced geothermal plant starts delivering power to the grid in Utah
Fervo Energy declared commercial operation on Sept. 30 at the first power plant of its Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah, making it the world's first greenfield enhanced geothermal development to reach contractual commercial operations. The plant synchronized to the grid on Sept. 24 and is supplying an initial 100 megawatts of firm, round-the-clock clean power under a long-term purchase agreement, with Fervo planning to add another 400 megawatts by 2028 — a milestone the company says proves next-generation geothermal can move from pilot projects to commercial-scale baseload power.
Read more →World's first commercial-scale enhanced geothermal plant starts delivering power to the grid in Utah
Fervo Energy declared commercial operation on Sept. 30 at the first power plant of its Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah, making it the world's first greenfield enhanced geothermal development to reach contractual commercial operations. The plant synchronized to the grid on Sept. 24 and is supplying an initial 100 megawatts of firm, round-the-clock clean power under a long-term purchase agreement, with Fervo planning to add another 400 megawatts by 2028 — a milestone the company says proves next-generation geothermal can move from pilot projects to commercial-scale baseload power.
China marks World Animal Day with data showing 200-plus rare species now rebounding in the wild
To mark World Animal Day on Oct. 4, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN highlighted National Forestry and Grassland Administration figures showing more than 200 rare and endangered wildlife species have entered a phase of sustained population growth, alongside emergency protection for over 100 threatened plant species. Standout cases include Hainan gibbons climbing to 44 individuals across seven groups after three births last year, a wild Amur tigress filmed raising five cubs in the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, and reintroduced snow leopards in the Helan Mountains successfully breeding and raising cubs in the wild.
Read more →China marks World Animal Day with data showing 200-plus rare species now rebounding in the wild
To mark World Animal Day on Oct. 4, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN highlighted National Forestry and Grassland Administration figures showing more than 200 rare and endangered wildlife species have entered a phase of sustained population growth, alongside emergency protection for over 100 threatened plant species. Standout cases include Hainan gibbons climbing to 44 individuals across seven groups after three births last year, a wild Amur tigress filmed raising five cubs in the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, and reintroduced snow leopards in the Helan Mountains successfully breeding and raising cubs in the wild.
Oregon State chemists unveil a sunlight-driven catalyst that sharply cuts the metal needed for green hydrogen
A team led by Kyriakos Stylianou at Oregon State University's College of Science has developed a new family of heterojunction photocatalysts, called RTTA, that use sunlight to split water into hydrogen fuel while needing only minimal amounts of costly ruthenium rather than the larger quantities typical of earlier designs. In lab tests, a gram of the best-performing version produced more than 10,700 micromoles of hydrogen in just one hour, with roughly 10% of the light photons hitting it converted into fuel — a efficiency gain the team says could make solar-driven hydrogen production markedly cheaper.
Read more →Oregon State chemists unveil a sunlight-driven catalyst that sharply cuts the metal needed for green hydrogen
A team led by Kyriakos Stylianou at Oregon State University's College of Science has developed a new family of heterojunction photocatalysts, called RTTA, that use sunlight to split water into hydrogen fuel while needing only minimal amounts of costly ruthenium rather than the larger quantities typical of earlier designs. In lab tests, a gram of the best-performing version produced more than 10,700 micromoles of hydrogen in just one hour, with roughly 10% of the light photons hitting it converted into fuel — a efficiency gain the team says could make solar-driven hydrogen production markedly cheaper.
A forgotten 30-year-old logging experiment shows thinned forests can store as much carbon as untouched ones
University of Melbourne researchers revisited the long-dormant Silvicultural Systems Project in Victoria's mountain ash forests, set up in 1987 to test alternatives to clearfelling, and found that heavily thinned stands had recovered all the carbon removed during harvesting and matched the carbon storage of untouched control forest within 30 years, while their remaining trees grew 20% bigger in diameter. Leadbeater's possums, a species pushed toward extinction by conventional logging, were recorded in every thinned plot but none of the untouched controls — evidence the team says undercuts the assumption that timber production and conservation must be at odds.
Read more →A forgotten 30-year-old logging experiment shows thinned forests can store as much carbon as untouched ones
University of Melbourne researchers revisited the long-dormant Silvicultural Systems Project in Victoria's mountain ash forests, set up in 1987 to test alternatives to clearfelling, and found that heavily thinned stands had recovered all the carbon removed during harvesting and matched the carbon storage of untouched control forest within 30 years, while their remaining trees grew 20% bigger in diameter. Leadbeater's possums, a species pushed toward extinction by conventional logging, were recorded in every thinned plot but none of the untouched controls — evidence the team says undercuts the assumption that timber production and conservation must be at odds.